Could anyone let me know what kind of run time i could expect from the SSC-32 (and bluesmirf) if i power the electronics with a ‘regular’ duracel 9V PP3 battery?
Servo power will be coming from another pack.
thanks, ds
I don’t know. But my 9v always dies quickly, but thats because its powering the logic in two boards(bot board and ssc-32).
alkaline 9V rectangle battery is about 450mah if I remember correctly. the ssc-32 product page says it pulls about 31mA. so just an ssc-32 running VL from a new 9V batt should expect 10 to 12 hours or so.
bot board itself should not draw much if any power but I don’t see the current for the BA or BAP listed. still I would not expect it to be much if any more than the ssc-32… there just isn’t that much there. if it was the same it would put you at roughly 5 to 6 hours.
bluesmirf page at sparkfun says about 25ma average so ssc-32+bluesmirf is about 6 to 8 hours, ssc-32+bot board+bluesmirf I would guess in the 4 to 5 hours range.
any sensors you power from the +5V regulated of the bot board could also chew into that time significantly as well.
lastly, if you have a PS/2 interface wired up that could pull probably as much as if not more than both the SSC-32 and anything on a BB/BA§ combined.
oh, they only last that long? No wonder all my bat died, I was basically working on them everyday with the 9v rarely turned off
thanks chaps - very helpful indeed. 
…err - also beginning to understand where to look to find this stuff out without asking 
